Lifetime of d-holes at Cu surfaces: Theory and experiment

We have investigated the hole dynamics at copper surfaces by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission experiments and many-body quasiparticle GW calculations. Large deviations from a free-electron-like picture are observed both in the magnitude and the energy dependence of the lifetimes, with a clear indication that holes exhibit longer lifetimes than electrons with the same excitation energy. Our calculations show that the small overlap of d- and sp-states below the Fermi level is responsible for the observed enhancement. Although there is qualitative good agreement of our theoretical predictions and the measured lifetimes, there still exist some discrepancies pointing to the need of a better description of the actual band structure of the solid.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Anomalous Quasiparticle Lifetime in Graphite: Band Structure Effects

We report ab initio calculation of quasiparticle lifetimes in graphite, as determined from the imaginary part of the self-energy operator within the GW aproximation. The inverse lifetime in the energy range from 0.5 to 3.5 eV above the Fermi level presents significant deviations from the quadratic behavior naively expected from Fermi liquid theory. The deviations are explained in terms of the unique features of the band structure of this material. We also discuss the experimental results from different groups and make some predictions for future experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted PR

The role of occupied d states in the relaxation of hot electrons in Au

We present first-principles calculations of electron-electron scattering rates of low-energy electrons in Au. Our full band-structure calculations indicate that a major contribution from occupied d states participating in the screening of electron-electron interactions yields lifetimes of electrons in Au with energies of $1.0-3.0 {\rm eV}$ above the Fermi level that are larger than those of electrons in a free-electron gas by a factor of $\sim 4.5$. This prediction is in agreement with a recent experimental study of ultrafast electron dynamics in Au(111) films (J. Cao {\it et al}, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 58}, 10948 (1998)), where electron transport has been shown to play a minor role in the measured lifetimes of hot electrons in this material.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Hole dynamics in noble metals

We present a detailed analysis of hole dynamics in noble metals (Cu and Au), by means of first-principles many-body calculations. While holes in a free-electron gas are known to live shorter than electrons with the same excitation energy, our results indicate that d-holes in noble metals exhibit longer inelastic lifetimes than excited sp-electrons, in agreement with experiment. The density of states available for d-hole decay is larger than that for the decay of excited electrons; however, the small overlap between d- and sp-states below the Fermi level increases the d-hole lifetime. The impact of d-hole dynamics on electron-hole correlation effects, which are of relevance in the analysis of time-resolved two-photon photoemission experiments, is also addressed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Interacting Multiple Try Algorithms with Different Proposal Distributions

We propose a new class of interacting Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms designed for increasing the efficiency of a modified multiple-try Metropolis (MTM) algorithm. The extension with respect to the existing MCMC literature is twofold. The sampler proposed extends the basic MTM algorithm by allowing different proposal distributions in the multiple-try generation step. We exploit the structure of the MTM algorithm with different proposal distributions to naturally introduce an interacting MTM mechanism (IMTM) that expands the class of population Monte Carlo methods. We show the validity of the algorithm and discuss the choice of the selection weights and of the different proposals. We provide numerical studies which show that the new algorithm can perform better than the basic MTM algorithm and that the interaction mechanism allows the IMTM to efficiently explore the state space

Graviton emission in Einstein-Hilbert gravity

The five-point amplitude for the scattering of two distinct scalars with the emission of one graviton in the final state is calculated in exact kinematics for Einstein-Hilbert gravity. The result, which satisfies the Steinmann relations, is expressed in Sudakov variables, finding that it corresponds to the sum of two gauge invariant contributions written in terms of a new two scalar - two graviton effective vertex. A similar calculation is carried out in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) for the scattering of two distinct quarks with one extra gluon in the final state. The effective vertices which appear in both cases are then evaluated in the multi-Regge limit reproducing the well-known result obtained by Lipatov where the Einstein-Hilbert graviton emission vertex can be written as the product of two QCD gluon emission vertices, up to corrections to preserve the Steinmann relations.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, feynmf. v2: typos corrected, reference added. Final version to appear in Journal of High Energy Physic

The TgsGP gene is essential for resistance to human serum in Trypanosoma brucei gambiense

Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes 97% of all cases of African sleeping sickness, a fatal disease of sub-Saharan Africa. Most species of trypanosome, such as T. b. brucei, are unable to infect humans due to the trypanolytic serum protein apolipoprotein-L1 (APOL1) delivered via two trypanosome lytic factors (TLF-1 and TLF-2). Understanding how T. b. gambiense overcomes these factors and infects humans is of major importance in the fight against this disease. Previous work indicated that a failure to take up TLF-1 in T. b. gambiense contributes to resistance to TLF-1, although another mechanism is required to overcome TLF-2. Here, we have examined a T. b. gambiense specific gene, TgsGP, which had previously been suggested, but not shown, to be involved in serum resistance. We show that TgsGP is essential for resistance to lysis as deletion of TgsGP in T. b. gambiense renders the parasites sensitive to human serum and recombinant APOL1. Deletion of TgsGP in T. b. gambiense modified to uptake TLF-1 showed sensitivity to TLF-1, APOL1 and human serum. Reintroducing TgsGP into knockout parasite lines restored resistance. We conclude that TgsGP is essential for human serum resistance in T. b. gambiense

Dislocation Driven Chromium Precipitation in Fe-9Cr Binary Alloy: A Positron Lifetime Study

The influence of initial heat treatment on anomalous Cr precipitation within high temperature solubility region in Fe-9Cr alloy has been investigated using positron lifetime studies. Air-quenched samples with pre-existing dislocations exhibited a distinct annealing stage in positron lifetime between 800 and 1100 K corresponding to Cr-precipitation. During this stage, Transmission Electron Microscopy showed fine precipitates of average size 4 nm, dispersed throughout the sample and from EDS analysis they are found to be Cr-enriched. The existence of dislocations is found to be responsible for Cr precipitation.Comment: Revised version Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Integration over a space of non-parametrized arcs, and motivic analogues of the monodromy zeta function

Notions of integration of motivic type over the space of arcs factorized by the natural C*-action and over the space of nonparametrized arcs (branches) are developed. As an application, two motivic versions of the zeta function of the classical monodromy transformation of a germ of an analytic function on ℂd are given that correspond to these notions. Another key ingredient in the construction of these motivic versions of the zeta function is the use of the so-called power structure over the Grothendieck ring of varieties introduced by the authors

Enseignement et perception de l’urologie à la fin du deuxième cycle des études médicales : état des lieux

Objectifs Déterminer la perception de l’urologie par les étudiants en fin de deuxième cycle des études médicales (DCEM) et connaître leurs supports d’enseignement. Matériel et méthodes Un auto-questionnaire a été diffusé par internet à 1600 étudiants de 16 facultés au cours de leur dernier semestre de DCEM. Résultats Au total, 590 réponses ont été reçues (36,8 %). Dans notre population, 70,2 % des étudiants étaient des femmes. Parmi eux, 24,1 % avaient fait un stage en urologie. L’urologie était considérée comme une discipline médicale, chirurgicale et médicochirurgicale, respectivement par 3,7 %, 37,8 % et 58 % d’entre eux. L’urologie était considérée comme une discipline très importante, importante, peu importante et pas importante par 5,1 %, 54,4 %, 37,5 % et 2,4 % d’entre eux. Les supports d’enseignement les plus utilisés pour préparer l’examen national classant (ENC) étaient les polycopiés d’internat (45,3 %), les conférences d’internat (43,7 %), le polycopié national du collège d’Urologie (38,6 %) et les cours dispensés à la faculté (32 %). Les items d’urologie les mieux assimilés étaient les pathologies lithiasiques (86,3 %), les troubles urinaires du bas appareil (76,3 %) et les cancers urologiques (56,7 %). À l’inverse, seulement 34,7 % et 28 % considéraient leurs connaissances suffisantes sur la dysfonction érectile et la transplantation rénale. Enfin, 7,5 % exprimaient le souhait de devenir urologue. La réalisation d’un stage en urologie était associée au sentiment d’avoir acquis les connaissances pour débuter l’internat (p < 0,001) et au souhait d’être urologue (p < 0,001). Conclusion Contre toute attente, l’urologie était considérée comme une discipline médicochirurgicale importante par la moitié des étudiants en fin de DCEM malgré le faible nombre d’items dédiés à l’urologie dans le programme de l’ENC. Un tiers d’entre eux utilisaient le polycopié national du collège d’Urologie pour préparer l’ENC et un quart avait réalisé un stage en urologie